Dante Bichette once said of Greg Maddux, “He’s the most comfortable 0-for-4 ever.” It spoke to the genius of Maddux. Hitters always felt like they held the upper hand, but rarely did. The right-hander made history Wednesday, earning 97.2 percent of the vote, leading a crew of fellow first-ballot honorees Tom Glavine (91.9) and Frank Thomas (83.7) into the Baseball Hall of Fame.

Following last winter’s Cooperstown shutout, the baseball writers elected three players for the first time since George Brett, Nolan Ryan and Robin Yount in 1999. Players needed to receive 75 percent of the 571 votes cast for election. Craig Biggio finished at 74.8 percent, which would have given the Hall its first four-player class since 1955.

Maddux was a lock from the moment he announced his retirement, the issue was whether he would break Tom Seaver’s 22-year-old record 98.84 percent mark (425 of 430 votes). It was known Tuesday that Maddux would not be the first unanimous selection as MLB.com writer Ken Gurnick revealed that he did not vote for Maddux as a protest of the steroids era in which he pitched.

Maddux brought nearly unrivaled credentials. He won four straight Cy Young awards (only Randy Johnson, who is eligible for the Hall of Fame next winter, has matched that accomplished) and had nine top-five finishes in the award voting. Most illuminating? He finished with a 3.16 ERA when the average ERA of his era was 4.11.

Maddux and Glavine are the first longtime teammates to go in on the same election. The pair strong-armed the Atlanta Braves teams that dominated baseball’s regular season for more than a decade. Glavine won two Cy Young awards, and won World Series MVP honors in 1995.

Frank Thomas, nicknamed the “Big Hurt,” left a wake of havoc in the batter’s box. The former two-time MVP (1993-94), Thomas ranks 18th in home runs (521) and, according to ESPN, is the only player with seven straight seasons of 20 HR/.300 avg./100 BB/100 RBIs.

Biggio, whose 668 doubles are tops among right-handed hitters, finished just shy in his second year on the ballot. Biggio collected 3,060 hits and won Silver Slugger awards at catcher (1989) and second base.

Pitcher Jack Morris, a lightning rod in the Hall of Fame debate over the old-school standards and new statistical metrics, got 61.5 percent of the vote in his last year on the ballot.

To remain eligible, a player must appear on 5 percent of the ballots. Rafael Palmeiro, who tested positive for PEDs, fell off the ballot.

Barry Bonds and Roger Clemens, considered the greatest hitter and pitcher of their era, respectively, gained no traction. Bonds had 34.7 percent of the vote with Clemens at 35. Both have suffered from their connection to performance-enhancing drugs through federal investigations.

Troy joined The Denver Post in 2002 as the Rockies' beat writer and became a Broncos beat writer in 2014 before assuming the lead role before the 2015 season. He is a past president of the local chapter of Baseball Writers Association of America and has won more than 20 local and national writing awards since graduating from the University of Colorado journalism school with honors in 1993.

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